Punjab farmers reject MSP on wheat, say it's far below MS Swaminathan report recommendations

S Jagmohan Singh, Bharti Kisan Union General, says hike is trivial in view of skyrocketing costs of agricultural inputs

Punjab farmers on Tuesday rejected the Rs 2,125 per quintal Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the wheat crop, which was announced by the Centre for the year 2023-24, saying that it was way below the MS Swaminathan report recommendations, according to an Indian Express report.

"As per the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee report, the MSP of wheat should have been as per C2+50 per cent formula,” said S Jagmohan Singh, Bharti Kisan Union (Dakaunda) General, adding that the hike was trivial in view of the skyrocketing costs of agricultural inputs.

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The C2+50 per cent formula was one of the recommendations made by the Swaminathan committee that was set up in 2004, in order to address the issue of the MSP. The term C2 refers to the comprehensive cost of production. Based on the report, farmers must receive C2 i.e. the total cost they have incurred during production plus a 50 per cent profit on that amount.

Shedding light on the rates of other rabi crops, Singh called them "unattractive" and said that "if the government went ahead with the actual C2+50 per cent formula, the MSP would have been Rs 3,600 per quintal".

Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, General Secretary of BKU Ugrahan (the largest farm union of Punjab) said the wheat MSP was about 40 per cent lower than the Swaminathan formula recommendation and called it a marginal increase with no real benefit to farmers.